Information rights management systems enable information to be protected after it has been accessed by or delivered to an authorized individual. They typically use persistent usage policies which remain with information when that information is transferred. For example, consider a chief executive officer (CEO) who wishes to send an email message that contains confidential information about a forthcoming reorganization to his or her executive staff. Using an information rights management system enabled email application, such as those currently known, the CEO is able to select a template to specify that recipients may read the email message but not copy, paste, edit or forward that message. When the recipients receive the email message they are able to view it using the email application. The email application enforces the permissions so that the recipients are unable to copy, paste, edit or forward the message. Existing information rights management systems also enable other policies to be used. For example, the CEO might set a time limit after which the recipients are no longer able to view the email. These types of restrictions can also be applied to intranet content and electronic documents using known information rights management systems.
Typically information rights management systems are implemented in a single organization, enterprise or trust domain and may be known as Enterprise Rights Management (ERM) systems.
Existing information rights management systems can only be applied in limited situations.
The embodiments described below are not intended to be limited to implementations that solve any or all of the noted disadvantages.